Make do and mend Monday

I thought I'd have a brief interlude in the middle of 
'Travels of a Fickle Woman' because 

a) I am fickle   

and 

b) All that cottage eye-candy was beginning to make me feel mildly dissatisfied with my perfectly-nice-end-of-terrace bit of Victoriana so I need to get back in touch with my reality (which is a very good reality anyway!)

So I thought I'd do a 'Make do and Mend Monday' post instead.

A while back, my Mum gave me two pairs of old, bag handles (now there's an interesting phrase - I have inserted a comma to make my meaning clear!), plus a green velvet knitting bag to add to my stash of 'will-come-in-handy-one-day' things.

Finally, last week (having re-discovered my love of knitting) I decided to create a knitting bag to replace the carrier bag that is currently serving as a home for the latest project beside the sofa.  I mean, a white plastic bag does not look very chic lying around in the sitting room, how ever lovely the knitting within is!

My first attempt was made from a width of fabric from a pretty, never used piece of barkcloth.  It took a while to work out how to create it, but I managed in the end!  

Some of it was a bit fiddly, so I thought I'd try a different method next time round.

For the second attempt, I used an old linen anti-macassar for the outside, and an olive-green and cream gingham for the inside.  The anti-macassar had pretty cutwork and hemstitching which I wanted to make a feature of.  

I changed the method slightly, but this was still fiddly, so I came up with another plan for a third bag.  I'm hoping to make that one today and if I come up with the perfect method third time round I might even do a little tutorial soon!